Question for Tony's expertise and the benefit of others!

Antonio, I am posting this here to ask you what you know about this insurance company and these types of plans? So, often there are loopholes that these companies use to get out of paying. I know that one accident report form had questions such as: "Were you skiing within your ability?; Had you taken this run before, if so how many times? Have you injured yourself in this mannor before and where? Have you taken a lesson? How many years have you been skiing, from what age?" Questions all about your equipment, serial numbers, etc. all to avoid litigation and find ways to not have to reimburse the poor sap.

See below Tony, copied email from NSP. I am sure the company does not limit its business to NSP members only.

LOW-COST ACCIDENT INSURANCE AVAILABLE TO NSP MEMBERS‏
From: enews@nsp.org
Sent: Thu 11/29/07 4:56 PM
Reply-to: enews@nsp.org
To: cwhappyrn@hotmail.com

The NSP Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the National Ski Patrol has partnered with Adventure Advocates to offer voluntary, low-cost accident insurance to all NSP members. Individual and family packages tailor-made for ski patrollers are immediately available. Members can purchase the insurance on a month-to-month basis as either primary coverage or to supplement existing coverage.

Three different packages have been created for NSP members. Each is underwritten by a large company that's been rated "A" (excellent) by AM Best. For rate and benefit information, or to enroll on-line, visit http://www.adventureadvocates.com/nsp. BENEFITS START THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH FOLLOWING ENROLLMENT (i.e., coverage will begin Dec. 1 if members enroll by Nov. 30. Coverage will begin Jan. 1 if members enroll Dec. 1-31, and so on).

In addition to medical coverage, members receive discounts on travel- and healthcare-related services and products, including savings on hotels, fitness clubs and vitamins. This is in keeping with Adventure Advocates' mission to promote active lifestyles and responsible outdoor recreation. The group has partnered with many other ski industry and outdoor companies.

Again, please visit http://www.adventureadvocates.com/nsp or call 800.211.9002 for more details or to enroll.

Eat your broccoli,

The NSP Staff

In general I am not a big fan of AD&D policies. They are cheap but cover a limited number of risks. If you need life insurance for your family, buy a competitive 10-15 year level term policy. Health insurance is another animal, politically charged these days. If the provisions of your basic medical policy are very restrictive, maybe you need something like this to fill in the holes. But for normal skiing within the U.S. typical group medical insurance should cover it. I do have an AMEX travel/accident/medical evacuation policy ($109/year). But that is because a lot of my travel is outside the U.S.

I think Tony is right here. I'm a financial planner and I think these AD&D policies can be a rip-off. FIrst, you need to carefully read the language of the actual policy that you would be buying to see exactly what is covered and not covered. In many instances, if you have a decent health insurance policy, it should cover all of the medical costs that this AD&D policy would cover. It usually doesn't make sense to have double coverage, because this AD&D policy pays for only what your health insurance policy does not cover. If, God forbid, you need the death benefit, the amount this AD&D policy pays is quite small (pretty much "burial insurance"). You may be better off just to buy a term life insurance policy, if you have a need for life insurance. Admittedly, the monthly premium seems quite reasonable, but, with any type of insurance, when the premium is this small, it means the insurance company almost never pays out any claims (hence, the low premium). Again, in certain cases, depending on your current insurance coverage, an AD&D policy like this one may make some sense. Good luck.

Thanks, it is nice to have validation for what I suspected. I used to work in a cancer research hospital that discourage people from getting cancer insurance because of the same issue. Another hornet's nest. I will stick to skiing! I want a natural burial and to be an unclaimed body!